Kendo information from Geoff

Opportunity for kote attack

Kote is a great target. It is closer than men and does not require the attention to hasuji and tai sabaki required to make a successful dou attack. The only cloud on the horizon with kote is that if your opponent is in correct chudan kamae it is impossible to hit.

Of course kote-uchi is perfectly achievable as a kihon drill. So, for reasons I will go into later, it’s worth ignoring my initial pessimism and practising this on a regular basis.

As we said, kote is closer than men, so you should start in ai-chudan with the kisaki (point) of your shinai level with that of your opponent. At this stage your shinai should be on the omote side of your partner’s. As you step in you should ensure that your left foot is in place with your heel off the ground. To strike you should push off from your left foot and push forward with your left hand to raise the point of the shinai just above the height of motodachi’s shinai. You should strike square on to the target, so as you step forward, you should angle your right foot over to your left so that your toes line up with the toes of his right foot, rather than the left foot as for a men attack.

Now for the disconnect with reality – motodachi has to open the target to allow you to strike. You in turn should strike the kote sharply in a forward motion. You should not cut down beyond the thickness of his wrist. Be careful with zanshin; your opponent’s body is very close, so you need to ensure that your shinai point does not cause injury. At the same time we do not want to compromise our position by pulling the shinai back. Instead we should move forward into a safe tsubazeriai.

So that’s how to attack kote. The challenge now is to turn it into an effective technique in jigeiko or shiai. The most obvious opportunity is degote – using your opponent’s forward motion as he starts to attack your men. You should encourage his movement by slightly lifting the point of your shinai towards his left eye and then hit kote just as he starts to raise his shinai.

Another option is harai gote. We hit his shinai towards the tsuba end and knock it to the right, opening the kote target. Harai is difficult against a strong chudan kamae, but much easier if done as your partner moves forward or backward. The harai and kote strike should be accomplished in one step.

So, great technique, but as always in kendo, timing and opportunity have to be correct.

Very long time indeed! Hope you are well. Just came across your site (don’t know why it took so long) but it’s a great one. I’m still in the San Francisco area. Boy, there are some kendo ringers out here indeed!

My main problems with Kendo derive just from wazas like this(kote and do).
I’ unable to find the right distancee with the opponent and usually I am too close to him/her when I hit.
This techinques aroused me doubts about my ability to oordinate my movements.

I posted my thoughts on your last point on Linkedin, but imagine that your problem is based on the distance that you start from. One way to get it right is to practise kote and do as kihon drills, starting in a position where you can hit the target without moving your feet and then moving back until you find your ideal distance.

You should also take your opponents movement into account. If he steps forward as you attack, you should shorten your own step to adjust distance.

I am going to share with you one way to get the sense of hitting kote in a coordinated manner including tenouchi. I learned it from Asami-sensei in his book.

1. Fold your tenugui
2. Place the folded tenugui on the top of your shinai just below sakigawa
3. Try to flip it up
4. Try to hit it before it falls on the ground (if you can, do fumikomi as you strike it)

Good strikes – slapping the tenugui down – comes with good tenouchi.

This exercise works well with kids at our dojo as it is fun to play.

I am sure that in a real situation, we need to step more toward to your opponent, but it is a good way to get the sense of hitting quickly and sharply by flipping the tenugui up and striking it before it falls on the ground.

Asami-sensei comes to realize that this whole movement can be applied to a real combat because you need to bring your shinai down to flip up, which is very similar movement to kobushi (fist) seme, where by the seme, your opponent reacts and creates an opening for you to hit kote…